More from the Pensacola Mayor’s Presser: Addressing Youth Migration
In response to questions about young people leaving Florida for more affordable opportunities, Mayor D.C. Reeves outlined a two-pronged strategy focusing on “investing in place” and addressing childcare access. He noted that younger generations increasingly choose where to live first, then find employment—a shift from previous generations.
- “Really, I think our focus has been twofold. One is that you guys have heard me say, I’m really trying to invest in place. What I mean is every generation younger than me in the American workforce is the first two-ish generations in the United States of America that have chosen to live in a city and didn’t find a job.”
Seismic Shift
He continued: “So everybody about my age or older, they moved to—when I was a sportswriter, I moved to whatever town was going to hire me, and that’s how it has been for generations. So we’ve seen a seismic shift in our country as a society to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I may not have the exact job I want out of college or out of trade school, but I’m going to move to this town that I really enjoy, that I think is safe and that I think is a good place to live. And then I’ll figure it out from there.’”
- Reflecting on his own experience growing up in Pensacola, the mayor shared: “When I left here, I never thought I’d come back. I would walk down on Saturdays on Palafox Street with my granddad, who lived in the Barcelona Apartments. At 11 a.m., I did not see one human being between Barcelona and the library, all the way to the coin shop. I wouldn’t see one human being on a Saturday.”
He contrasted that with today’s vibrancy: “Even when I moved back after college to work at Pensacola in 2007, I remember how big a deal it was that there was a second restaurant on Palafox Street. Now think about how that seems like 50 years ago, and it’s 18 years ago.”
- The mayor pointed to recent recognition of Pensacola as a top 25 city for job growth as evidence that the strategy is working: “The fact that we see that moving the needle here in Pensacola I think is a very encouraging sign to see the growth of those key sectors… those are the types of problems that a mayor likes to have. Not the ones where you’re begging for your most valuable asset, which is your talented young people, to be able to stay.”